HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT, LAND GRANTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 671

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

AN ACT

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC PEACE, HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT TO CONDUCT A COMPREHENSIVE CULTURAL RESOURCES STUDY AND INVENTORY REPORT WITHIN THE NAVAJO CHAPTERS OF OJO ENCINO AND TORREON-STAR LAKE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. APPROPRIATION.--One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the cultural affairs department for expenditure in fiscal year 2020 to conduct a comprehensive cultural resources study and inventory report within the Navajo chapters of Ojo Encino and Torreon-Star Lake to be conducted by a recognized expert in archaeology and ethnohistory. The study shall utilize existing light detection and ranging data of Chacoan roads, outliers and other cultural resources in the chapters and include documentation of interviews with elders, residents and traditional users of the land. The report shall include records of all surveyed parcels in the chapters in addition to current information on those parcels, a survey of all proposed oil or gas well sites, roads and pipeline rights of ways; and investigation of known traditional cultural properties. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2020 shall revert to the general fund.

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